Cable-grip for railways



(No Model.) r 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

, T; 0. COOPER. CABLE GRIP FOR RAILWAYS. i No. 372,121. PatentedMOQt. 25, 1887.

WITNESSES wk g INVENTOR BY I ATTORNEYS.

N. PETERS. Fllckolitlwgraphar, Wlnhingiun, D.-C.

(NoModeL) s Sheets-Sheet 2. T. 0. COOPER;

CABLE GRIP POR'RAILWAYS.

Patented-Oct. 25, 1887;

INVENTOR ATTORNEYS.

N FEIERS, PMwLRhognplwr, Wnhingfon. DJ:-

3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

(No Model.)"

T. 0. COOPER.

GABLE GRI P FOR RAILWAYS.

INVENTOR LUH/M/ Patented Oct. 25, 1 887.

a WITNESSES:- dm M ATTORNEYS.

U ITE STATES PATENT QFFICEQ THOMAS OLIVER COOPER, OF WILMINGTON, DELAWVARE.

CABLE-GRIP FOR RAILWAYS.

SPECIFICATION foaming part Of Letters Patent NO. 372,121, dated October 25, 1887.

Application filed May 4, 1887. Serial No. 237,155.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be itknown that I, THOMAS OLIVER COOPER, of Wilmington, in the county of New Castle and State of Delaware, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Cable-Grips for Railways, of which the following is a specification.

Myinvention is in the nature of certain improvements u pen the cable-grip for which Letters Patent No. 350,813 were granted me October 12, 1886; and it consists in the peculiar construction and arrangement of parts, which I will now proceed to describe with reference to the drawings, in which Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal sectional elevation. Fig. 2 is adetail perspective view of the grip'frame. Fig. 3is an enlarged sectional side view of the lower portion of the grip. Fig. 4is a cross section of the lower portion of the grip. Fig. 5 is a detail edge view of the grip. Fig. 6 is a perspectiveview.

of the lower portion of the middlef grip-bar,

and Fig. 7 isa plan view of the grip-frame.

In the drawings, A represents the car-body, and B 13 its axles, between which is supported a metal frame-work consisting of four bars, 0 O O C, Fig. 2. Within this frame O O is another laterally adjustable frame, D, having four laterally-projecting arms, d d d cl, on each side, which pass through guide-slots or keepers in the bars of the frame 0 0, so as to allow frame D to move sidewise, as is sometimes required in turning curves. In the ends of frame, D are formed Vertical grooves, in which rise and fall the vertically adjustable gripbars E E, which are fastened together at the top and bottom and have between them thesliding middle bar, F, whose vertical motion serves to open and close the grip.

G G represent the grips, which are in the nature of crossed levers hinged upon a long bolt, (1, that connects the lower parts of the gripbars E, which grips are faced tocorrespond to and bite the cable and have their upper ends hinged to leaves or plates G G, which in turn are hinged to the middle gripbar, F, so that as the middle bar, F, is forced.

down'the grips G G are opened, and as the bar F is raised the grip is closed. Just here is to be noted a departure from my previous patent, in which the grips are closed by the downward thrust. By making the grip to be opened by grip when passing over a cross-cable.

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the downward thrust and closed by the upward movement the closing (or greatest) strain is transmitted by a pull or tension on the middle bar, instead of a thrust, which is apt to bend said bar.

In order to permit the grips to be partially opened to slow up and stop the car, but without dropping the cable, I provide at each end of the grip a pairof levers, HH, Fig. 5, fulcrumed upon the fixed axis afforded by the longbolt a, and bearing at their lower ends twin pulleys c c, which close beneath the cable and form a support for the same. These levers have in their crossed arms, above their fulcrum, cam-slots d d, of an angular shape, in which play projecting stems e, rigidly attached to the movable middle bar, F. Now, when the bar F descends, these stems move downwardly in the vertical portionsd of the slots in these arms, and the result is to partially open the gripping-jaws, without, however, separating these supporting-pulleys. On a continuation of the descent of the bar F, however, the stems 6 enter the angular sec tions d of the cam-slots, and the ends of the levers bearing the supporting-pulleys c c are separated and the cable is dropped.

To the bottom ends of bars E E is rigidly fastened, by bolts, the hood or outer casing, I, having friction-rollers r on the sides; and to the forward end of this hood is pivoted at f the vertically-adjustable runner-shaped shoes J J, which restwithin the hood I, one

upon each side of the grip. These shoes correspond to a similar device in my former patent, and are used to automatically release the In the present instance these shoes have a link-connection, g, with a lever, h, Fig. 3, fulcrum'ed at h to one of the bars E, and having it-sother end connected to the middle bar, F, so that when these shoes are raised about their forpair of pulleys, K K, parallel with the bot-.

tom cable and on each side of the upper crosscable, the pulleys K K being on the same too shaft with the supporting-pulleys K K of the lower cable, but of much larger diameter, so that when the grip which is connected to the lower cable approaches the upper cross-cable the shoes J J of said grip ride up on the pulleys K K, and this upward movement of said shoes causes (as before described) the grip to open and drop the cable until the grip has passed over the upper cross-cable.

For operating the middle bar, F, to apply or release the grip, an elbow-lever,L,is fulcrumed to the relatively stationary bars E, and its vertical arm is connected to the horizontal bar M, running to the end of the car, whereit connects with a hand-lever. N, provided with a locking-dog engaging with a ratcheted or notched plate for adjustment. The horizontal arm of the elbow-lever L is connected to a bolt, j, that passes through a slot in the upper extension of middle bar, F, to which bolt is also fastened a cap, 5, upon which rests a spiral spring is, wound about the end of the middle bar and bearing at the top against a head attached to the same. Now it will be seen that when the middle bar is raised to ap ply the grip it is done by a pull on horizontal bar M, and the strain is applied through the tension of spiral spring 7;. The object of this spring is, however, to allow the grip to be antomatically opened. even when the grip is locked to the cable by the lever N. It is obvious that if the bar F were rigidly locked by lever N the grip could not be automatically released; but when locked through the tension of spring it will be seen that the bar F can still be forced down to release the grip whenever the shoes J ride up on the pulleys K in crossing a cable.

For raising and lowering the whole grip bodily in the grooves in frame D, a peculiar double-bent elbow-lever, O, is fulcrumed upon a tilting link, P, jointed to an offset from frame D. The upper arm of this lever is connected with a horizontal bar, Q, which extends to the end of the car and is connected to an operating-lever, It. By moving this lever it will be seen that the entire grip may be raised orlowcred in the frame D.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is- 1. The combination, with the car-axles, of the four bars 0 G C 0, having guide slots or keepers in the same, the laterally-adjustable frame D, having horizontal projecting arms d d d d, fitting into said slots or keepers, and vertical guides on the inner side, the verticallyadjustable grip moving in said guides, and means for raising and lowering the grip, substantially as shown and described.

2. The combination of the grip-bars F and E E, the latter having axial belt a at their lower ends, the grips G G, fulerumed upon said axial bolt and connected by hinge-plates to bar F, the levers H H, also fulcrumcd upon the axial bolt and having twin supportingpulleys at their lower ends and cam-slots d d in their upper ends, and stems e 6, attached to the bar F and working in the cam slots to open the supportingpnlleys at the latter portion of their downward movement, as described.

3. The combination, with the bars E E and F, of the hood I, the shoes J J, pivoted at their forward ends to the hood, the link 9, and lever h, fulernmed on bars E and connecting the rear end of shoes to the middle bar, F,as described, whereby an elevation of the shoe effects a depression of the middle bar and a release of the grip, as set forth.

4. The combination of bars E E, middle grip-bar,F,havinga slotted upward extension, the elbow-lever L, fulcrumcd to bars E and having one arm connected to the operating mechanism and the other to a cap, 2', and bolt j, working in a slot in the extension of the middle bar, and a spiral spring, k, wound about the upper extremity of the bar F and interposed between cap 2' and a hearing at the upper end of the bar, substantially as shown and described.

5. The combinatiomwith the frame C Cand the laterally-adjustable frame D, of the elbowlever O, tilting link P, forming a fulcrum for said lever and jointed to and supported upon an offset from the frame, the horizontal bar Q,

and operating-lever R, substantially as and I for the purpose described.

6. The combination of one or more wheels or pulleys arranged at the crossing of two cables, parallel with the lower cable, a grip device having a movable shoe adapted to strike the said pulleys, and mechanism connecting the grip -operating devices with the shoe, whereby the contact of the latter with the pulley or pulleys is made to release the grip from the cable, substantially as and for the purpose described.

7. The combination, with two cross-cables, of a supporting-pulley for the lower cable having on its axis beside it larger pulleys rising above the level of the upper cable, and a grip device arranged to ride upon the larger pulleys and pass over the cross-cable, substantially as and for the purpose described.

The above specification of my invention si ned by me in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

THOMAS OLIVER COOPER.

Witnesses:

EDwD. W. BYRN, SoLoN G. KEMON. 

